The first attempt failed due to too much dust getting stuck to the stone chippings, leading to them being ripped up by traffic.

Anthony Radford-Foley, the council's head of highways asset management, said: “It’s unfortunate the remedial work had to be stopped at the weekend but we had no choice owing to the heavy rain.

“If our contractors had carried on we would have risked the materials not setting properly again.

“I'd like to apologise for any inconvenience the extra weekend closure will cause but would like to reassure residents and motorists that we only took the decision to stop work because it was abso-lutely necessary.

“I'd like to thank everyone for their continued patience while the Bagshot Road remedial work is carried out.”